The Strain
by Alenida
Summary: It all started when the Animorphs decided to rescue Tom. There was a mission to the Yeerk pool, a disaster, and a kidnapping. CJ, RT, AxMelissa, MarcoOC. NOT a MarySue. Rated T to be safe.
1. A Vision

**Disclaimer: **I only own Julie. Nothing else. (My friend came up with Hanna.)

A/N: Well, I'm just going to warn anybody reading this that it's going to be quite long. And that it's Cassie/Jake, Rachel/Tobias, Ax/Melissa and Marco/OC. It is NOT a Mary-Sue. Um, just read it. Then I won't have to say anything else. Oh, and the beginning is a little choppy, because I started it when I was in fourth grade and I had to excise that part and rewrite it, because I couldn't actually write when I was in fourth grade.

**Cassie**

They wanted me to start this one off. I don't know why. Jake says I have this touch for writing. I don't really know what he means. But, anyway--here goes. My name is Cassie. And I'm not going to say I can't tell you what my last name is, because I can. Now. But I'm not going to tell you until the end of this. After all, what would a story be without suspense? Okay, granted, this has more than enough suspense. The whole Marco thing and all. But you don't know about that yet. So I guess I'd better just start the story and stop stalling.

We were walking home from school. Jake was really tired; he'd had a couple of tests and not a lot of sleep the night before. I _told_ him he should start studying earlier, but he wouldn't exactly listen to me. But when we were walking home this time, I heard Jake sigh.

"What's wrong, Jake?" I asked, putting my hand on his arm.

"Oh, it's just Tom," he responded glumly.

"Oh," I answered, trading looks with everybody else. We all knew how hard it was on Jake that his admired older brother was trapped as a Controller. "I wish we could do something. You know, like we did when you were a Controller. Tie Tom up and put him in a shed for three days."

"Why couldn't we do that?" chipped in Tobias, who was in his human morph, a blond, slightly nervous-looking boy who now had a disturbing habit of never blinking.

"I am afraid it is quite obvious why not. Not-tuh. Tuh. Not-tuh," said Ax, who was in his disturbingly handsome human morph.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because--b-b-b-because--buh! That is a wonderful mouth-sound. Buh!"

"Get to the point!" Jake yelled. That startled us all. Jake _never_ yells. But I guess having a Controller as your older brother is a little stressful.

"Because," Ax continued. "No one knew that Jake had been infested. In-FEST-ted. Infest-TED. They were not expecting to see him appear at the Yeerk-KUH! Yeer-kuh! Pool every three days. ZZZZZZZ."

"He's right, Jake," Marco said, dispiritedly.

It's been hard on Marco, too, but at least he doesn't have to _live_ with a relative he knows is a Controller.

"I guess so," mumbled Jake. We continued our walk.

That was when Marco had the brain wave. His eyes lit up and turned green. Literally.

"Hey, guys," he said.

"What?"

"Why shouldn't the Yeerks see Tom turn up at the right time?"

"You mean, morph Tom?" Rachel asked doubtfully. "I guess it would work, but without a Yeerk in his head--"

"No, no, no, I don't mean morph Tom. Not at all."

"Well, then what _do _you mean?"

"Erek," Marco replied. Erek is one of the Chee, a group of androids created by an extinct race called the Pemalites. He is very, very old (centuries), and he and the other Chee can make holograms of just about anything. So obviously he could do a hologram of Tom.

"Yeah, but what about when Tom isn't infested anymore?" asked Rachel.

I looked at Jake. "Jake?" I asked.

He nodded. "We need more Animorphs--there's not enough of us--and we _know_ that Tom won't be another David."

**Rachel**

I don't really know why we did it _then_, as opposed to earlier or later. We could just as easily have done it any time over the years we'd spent fighting the Yeerks. I guess we did it then, because, well, we were all getting restless. We couldn't think of anything else to do. We had to do _something_. So we did. In morph, we basically ambushed Tom while he was walking to school, since his car had broken down, mainly because Jake rammed a nail through the motor. But, hey, it was an old car. It would have broken down soon anyway.

So we grabbed Tom and dragged him to that hut in the woods. Then we took turns guarding him. Unfortunately for me, it was on my shift he decided to make a serious break for it. He'd somehow managed to wiggle his slimy way out of the ropes, and then he pulled something out (I'd frisked him, but I guess I need to practice) out his belt; suddenly I couldn't move a muscle. Then he grinned and jumped out the door laughing, "Four humans and a _bird_! Wait till I tell Visser Three!"

I confess, I was worried. For about ten seconds. Then I heard, "YAAAAAAAAAAAAH!", and Ax's calm thought-speak voice, Four humans, one bird, AND an Andalite.

We've never really been sure whether or not Ax has a sense of humor. Humorous or not, however, when I heard his remark, I practically collapsed with relief. If that guy had gotten away--I shuddered at the image; it was as clear as day. It rose up in front of my horrified, bewildered eyes; I couldn't blink it away. The shack was gone, and all I could see was the Tom-Yeerk laughing, laughing. Was Visser Three sneering cruelly, as he looked down at the boy's limp form that lay in front of him. Was the dark hair matted with half-clotted blood that trickled from a wound in the head to glimmer in a dark crimson pool collecting beneath it. Marco. Dead? I couldn't tell.

So sorry, _Rachel_, Visser Three said, smiling coldly. But you were all trying too hard to resist. I had to make an example of someone.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I heard the thought-speak wail. And I knew it was Ax. The wail was cut off abruptly. I turned, saw him, head dripping, pulled up from the sludgy Yeerk Pool. A Controller. Tobias. Jake. Controllers. Then Cassie was dragged up the pier. "Rachel! Rachel!" Cassie's voice was distant and far-away. The Yeerks dragged her forward and--

My eyes snapped open. Cassie was shaking me, her brown eyes full of worry. I saw Jake. The Tom-Yeerk, dumped unconscious against a wall. Tobias fluttering down from the rafters. I sprang to my feet. "Ax! Marco!" I cried in total panic. A tousled dark head peered round the door. Marco. And from behind me, a delicate blue-deer shape emerged.

We are here, Ax said, sounding puzzled and faintly concerned. Marco was staring at me with his mouth open.

"Wh-what happened?" I asked.

"Ax?" Jake said. Ax approached me. Gentle Andalite fingers probed my skull.

It was a Yeerk Dracon beam, set on stun, Prince Jake. But it has not caused permanent damage, he answered.

"He shot you with a Dracon beam," Jake explained, "Stunned you. Then you went into a kind of coma-like trance. You didn't wake up until Cassie called you."

"It was the Ellimist," I said, with sudden conviction.

"The Ellimist!" cried everyone.

"It had to be," I continued. "He gave me a vision."

"What was the vision?" Jake asked.

I gulped. "I don't know exactly how to put this, but--Marco was--well--" The silence stretched for several minutes before Jake said, "Uh-huh. Go on."

" I heard Ax cry out in thought-speak, and I turned around, and then he was a Controller and so were you and Tobias--he was in human morph--and then they brought Cassie up and you people woke me up."

"Uh-huh," Jake replied, sounding slightly confused. "So what does this have to do with the Ellimist?"

"Well, it left me pretty edgy about Ax and Marco, as you saw when I woke up. I mean, I guess if it had been an ordinary dream, it _might_ have got me worried about Marco--though that's not particularly likely--but why Ax? Especially, that is? And the other thing is, Ax caught him, didn't you? The Tom-Yeerk? And said, Four humans, one bird, AND an Andalite , right?"

Ax nodded, still concerned.

"But that should have been _after_ I was stunned. I had just thought, 'Hey, does Ax have a sense of humor?', when it started," I explained.

"Uh-oh," said Jake.

"Oh dear," said Cassie.

Good grief, was Tobias' comment.

"Ellimists are just sneaky and weird people." Marco, naturally.

A sense of humor? asked Ax.


	2. An Abortive Mission

Disclaimer: Own Julie. Not Animorphs. Laura own Hanna.

A/N: Yay, I got reviews! If me get reviews, me post more chapters...oh, and sorry that all my thought-speak showed up without any punctuation. I forgot you can't do those funky bracket-thingies on this site. Currently, until I think of something more original, I'll just put it in singular quotes. And thanks for the great review, Cassie101! Don't worry; there's lots more of this story!

**Marco**

We were all worried, even though we decided that probably all the Ellimist was trying to do was alert us to the fact that Ax and--well, me, as it happened--could bear a little watching. (I mean, duh! A dream with dead friends and Controller-wacko-weird-alien-friends is a _slightly_ bad omen.) We decided this after an hour of Jake yelling (yes, _yelling_) at Rachel, because she couldn't be more specific about _why_ exactly she was worried about just Ax and me, instead of everybody, because Jake and Tobias and Cassie had also been Controllers. We finally narrowed it down to the fact that I was dead in the dream (yeah, that's slightly worrisome, even if Rachel and I are kind of arch-enemies), and the fact that Rachel had heard Ax yelling about it. Then Jake and Rachel had another long discussion about why she hadn't been worried about Cassie, too, since she'd heard her as well. Rachel very patiently explained that this was because she had heard the REAL Cassie, but the DREAM Ax. Her exact words were, "Because, you numbskull, I heard Ax as part of the dream, but Cassie as part of reality! Why do I have such an idiot for a cousin!"

When we'd finished all this, we called up Erek and asked if he had any Chee available who could be disposed of; that is, whose hologram could die so they would be free to play Tom or anyone else necessary.

"No," said Erek.

"WHAT?" yelped Jake.

"No, but we do have several hundred not doing any hologram at all currently, who would be happy to assist you if you need it."

"Oh," said Jake. Then, as an afterthought, "Thanks."

"You know, guys," I said, conversationally to everyone later that afternoon. "This is a very nice shack. I think Visser Three might be very comfortable here for three days."

Everyone's heads snapped round.

"Let me point out just two problems with that," said Rachel. "Number One: how could we get him here?" Surprisingly, she said so very sweetly, but then, "And number two: HE CAN MORPH!"

"Oh, yeah," I muttered, crestfallen.

'Actually, it is a plausible plan,' said Ax.

"_What_!" yelped Rachel.

'Oh, there are several minor flaws to be worked out--'

"_Minor_!"

'--but with proper consideration, it is possible that we could carry it out. After all, we held Prince Jake here for three days, and he can morph.'

"I think," Jake said tiredly, "That this calls for another spy mission at 'Happy Happy Meal with Extra Happy' land."

We all groaned.

"Again?" I groused.

"Yeah, naturally," replied Jake. "We need to see if there's any way to lure the Visser out here without it being suspicious."

"Ugh," I moaned.

"Ick," Rachel wrinkled her nose.

'Oh, man,' groaned Tobias.

"Yup," said Jake. "Ugh, ick, _and_ oh man, but we are doing this! Somehow."

Not the most promising start.

**Tobias**

'Good grief,' I cried. 'Of all the stupid, idiotic, absolutely suicidal plans we've ever had, this has got to be _the_ most stupid, idiotic, and absolutely suicidal one we've had yet!'

"Oh, good," Marco commented dryly. "I just love the optimism around here!"

'Marco, I believe that optimistic is the opposite of what Tobias was being-' began Ax.

"I know. It's called 'sarcasm'."

'Oh. Humor?'

"Yeah. Humor."

'Ah.'

"Okay," said Jake. "Is everyone ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," grumbled Marco.

"Let's-"

" 'Let's do it!' We know, we know, Rachel." (Marco again, of course.)

Okay. I took a deep breath and focused.

It turned out to be a weird, weird morph. First I grew and grew and grew until I was a six-foot-tall hawk. Then my feathers just kind of shlooped into my skin, leaving me looking like a plucked chicken.

"Oh, gross," Rachel commented calmly.

My morphing suit sort of oozed out, and, all of a sudden, wings were turning to arms and claws to toes, and there I was, mostly the human me, standing there with a huge bird head. Finally, my head transformed itself, and I was completely the human me once again. Everyone was looking at me weirdly. Well, they were until Ax's remaining stalk eye, which had been looking at me weirdly, shlooped into his head, leaving him standing with his back to me.

"Well, let's…" Rachel began.

"Do it!" chorused everyone but Ax, who was busy trying not to fall over.

**Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill**

We were using the most obviously approach--simply walking in our human form into the Yeerk Pool and morphing in the human areas reserved for the disposal of bodily wastes.

"No, Ax," Prince Jake said. "Go into the one that says 'Men' on it."

"Yes, Prince Jake."

"And don't call me Prince," he said, making a human mouth sound which involves blowing air out of the mouth in a loud fashion, used to indicated, fatigue or resignation.

"Yes, Prince Jake," I replied.

He showed me to a small metal chamber, wherein I quickly demorphed and remorphed into the bizarre earth animal known as a 'fly'. I zipped under the door of the small metal chamber.

'Prince Jake? Tobias? Cassie, Marco, Rachel?' I said in thought-speak.

'Coming. And we are ready to roll.' It was Rachel's voice.

'Roll?' I asked. 'I thought we were flying.'

'It's a--oh, never mind,' she replied.

We flew out into the Yeerk Pool area and began looking for Visser Three when suddenly, "Visser, I have some indications of several abnormal life-forms in the vicinity. I believe they are what humans call 'flies'."

'Uh-oh,' said Prince Jake.

'Double uh-oh,' said Marco.

'FLIES? One of the Andalite bandits' favorites morphs! Target them and fire!'

"Yes, Visser!"

'Uh-oh. Everyone out of here, NOW!' Prince Jake shouted.

As we raced for the exit, green Dracon beams shot past us. TSEEEW! TSEEEW!

Luckily, we reached the door with no other mishaps, until a computerized voice intoned, "Unauthorized life-forms detected. Will home in five seconds…five…four…three…two…one…"

I was the last one out the door. As I zipped through, I felt a sharp pinprick of pain in one of my legs, but I ignored it. We demorphed and Tobias and I remorphed in 'the Mall'. Though still shaking from our narrow escape, I was nevertheless hoping to get some delicious cinnamon buns. Ah, cinnamon buns. Is there anything like them? I asked Prince Jake about the matter. He considered for a moment, then moved his shoulders up and down in a human gesture of indifference and replied, "Guess it can't hurt."

A few minutes later I was seated at a small table and eating a large, gooey, delicious cinnamon bun. And then something happened which has never happened before. I dropped the bun.

The reason for this astounding phenomenon was that a human girl had just entered the restaurant. She was about Cassie's height. She had wavy yellow-white hair (I believe the correct term is 'blond'), which hung to just below her chin. She had a very small, thin, heart-shaped face. She appeared to be quite unhappy. And just at that minute, as she came up to us, I very nearly ran out of the restaurant in panic. All of a sudden, my human legs went weak and watery and a strange feeling ran up and down my spine. My body began to tingle all over. I was sure I must have contracted some terrible human disease, but before I could begin to assess the problem, the human girl who had just entered walked over to our table.

"Hey, Melissa," said Rachel. ('Hey' is a human term used as a greeting.)

"'Lo, Rachel," said the girl Melissa.

"You don't know Philip, do you?" asked Rachel, gesturing toward me.

Melissa looked at me with something approaching interest and shook her head.

"He's from out of state," Rachel explained.

"Yes, my name is Axi-Philip from out of state. Tuh," I managed to say, although the tingles had suddenly gotten worse, and my stomach began to turn over. Melissa looked at me as if puzzled, but gave me a small smile. All of a sudden, it became very hard to swallow.

"Well, I'd better go," said Melissa, turning to leave, but pausing before she took a step. "We haven't seen much of each other lately, Rachel," she said. "Would you and…Philip like to come over tomorrow?"

"S-sure, okay," replied Rachel, in a bemused voice. "Well, uh, see you."

"See you," replied Melissa and left. The tingles began to subside.

"Now what was that about?" asked Rachel. Jake moved his shoulders up and down. Cassie shook her head.

"I do not know, but I have something serious to tell you in Cassie's b-b-b-barn," I gulped.

"Huh?" asked Tobias.

"Um…all right," answered Cassie.

We got up and left.


	3. A Romantic Encounter

Disclaimer: Own. Not. Animorphs. I.

A/N: I know not much has happened yet, but bear with me, lots of stuff happens in the next chapter! Lots and lots and lots! Also soon there will be Marco angst. (In case you're wondering, he is my favorite character. Ax is my second-favorite.)

**Cassie**

We were assembled in my barn. We wondered what Ax's 'something serious' could be. I confess, I was awfully worried, especially after Rachel's dream.

"Okay, Ax, what is it?" asked Jake, deadly serious.

I am afraid I have contracted an earth disease, Ax answered. That set us all on edge. Various horrible possibilities raced through my mind, among them 'leukemia', 'anthrax', and somewhat improbably, 'ebola'. Jake kept himself together, though.

"How so?" he asked.

'When Rachel's friend Melissa approached our table, all of a sudden, my legs weakened, I began to tingle all over, and then it became hard to swallow. Do you have any idea what this could be?'

For a minute, we just stared at Ax. Then, we all burst out laughing.

"Oh, man," gasped Marco, when he could talk. "Melissa Chapman is one hot chick!"

'What?' asked Ax, obviously completely confused.

Wiping tears of mirth from my eyes, I explained. "Ax, this is pretty normal. It mean-um-it means you like Melissa Chapman."

'But I like all of you.'

"Not like. _Like_," Marco chimed in. "Think Jake and Cassie. Or Rachel and Tobias."

"Or Marco and his dream girl, who does NOT exist!" snapped Rachel. I swear, if Andalites could blush, Ax would have turned maroon.

'Like a 'girlfriend'? Like 'kissing'?' he asked.

"Yep," answered Marco.

"You know," Rachel said thoughtfully. "Melissa seemed pretty taken with Ax herself." If Andalites could blush, Ax would have been not only maroon, but a deep shady purple.

'Oh,' he said in a very small voice.

**Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill**

I was embarrassed. _Very_ embarrassed. But now it was the next day, and Rachel and I were going to Melissa Chapman's house. We rang the doorbell. She let us in.

"You know," Rachel said suddenly. "I'm awfully sorry, Melissa, but I just realized, I have this huge test tomorrow, and I have to go home and study. I should be back in an hour or so, okay?"

"Okay, Rachel."

Rachel left.

Melissa showed me into her living room.

"So where are you from?" she asked.

"I am from out of state. Tuh. Stay-tuh." I could not believe Rachel had left me by myself. I was extremely nervous.

"Yeah, but which state?"

"Um…um…Alaska!"

"Whoa. You came quite a ways."

"Yes. I came many lightye-I mean, yes, it was 'a ways'."

"Is it really as cold there as they say?"

"I do not know. How cold do 'they' say it is?"

"Just…cold."

"Ah. Yes, it is cold."

"So…how long are you here for?"

Another tricky question. "Until I go home." It was all I could think of to say.

"When will that be?"

"Quite a long time. You see, there are-problems."

I thought I saw a single tear glitter in one of Melissa's eyes. "Y-yes, I understand. My home-my parents-I have problems, too."

All of sudden, both eyes filled with tears, and she broke down and began to sob, face in hands. Shocked, I did not know what to do. I placed one of my thick human hands awkwardly on her back and attempted to comfort her. "It will be all right."

"No, no, you don't understand!" she managed through her tears.

"You are correct." I did not.

"It-it's my parents. They just don't-I don't think they even love me anymore." The tears came faster. Abruptly, I remembered what Rachel had told me of Melissa. Of how both her parents were Controllers and of how she sensed the change in them. Of how she felt that it was somehow her fault that they had changed. She wiped her eyes on her hands. "I-I'm sorry, Philip, I'm being an idiot. Here I am, blurting out all my problems to a near-perfect stranger."

"It is-it is all right. I do not mind. I-I-" I could not think of what to say. "I-that is not quite the problem I have, but my parents are far away. Very far away. Many light-years." I had not meant to say that, but perhaps Melissa would not notice. I sighed inwardly, thinking of the millions of light-years that separated me from my family. Melissa's blue eyes looked up at me.

Abruptly, she smiled, a watery smile, but nevertheless, it made the tingles begin again with great force.

"You are the weirdest person I've every met-" she began.

My one, Human heart dropped into my shoes.

"-and the nicest."

My heart seemed to suddenly float out of my body.

"You are…very nice, too," I blurted. "And very pretty."

The shadow of a mischievous grin crossed her face, and she laughed a little. "I'm not nice when I play Monopoly."

I almost forgot to breathe. I was annoyed at the way my body was behaving.

"Monopoly?" I repeated. I could not think of anything else to say.

"Yeah. Don't you know how to play Monopoly?"

"No," I admitted. "Should I?"

"No…I mean…I don't know. It's just…it's my favorite game. Or _was_ my favorite game."

" 'Was'?"

"Well, since my parents stopped…" her voice quivered and trailed off. My heart ached for her.

"My brother is…" I halted for a moment, thinking of Elfangor-how brave he was, how everyone thought such a lot of him, how I could never live up to his legacy…

"Yes?" Melissa prompted.

"Is…" Then I thought how he had always helped me, and been so very, very kind…

"Go on."

"Dead."

Melissa covered her mouth with her hand, a human gesture of shock. Obviously, she had not expected this.

"I'm sorry," she said softly. "How did he…I mean…I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"No, that is all right. He was…a warrior."

"A soldier! How old was he?"

"Approximately thirty of your years."

"Oh." The silence stretched for several minutes before Melissa said, "Um, I'll teach you Monopoly, if you'd like."

Monopoly is a complicated game. It involves receiving fake human money with which one buys property and then gains money from the other player or players. Monopoly is a strange game, but quite enjoyable. At one point, I landed on 'Chance'. This indicates that one must pick up a card which tells one that one has either gained or lost money. I gained it.

"You have won second prize in a beauty contest. Collect ten dollars," I read. "Yes, that makes sense," I said, as I removed '$10' from the 'bank'.

"Why?" asked Melissa, curiously.

"Because that means you have won the first prize."

She turned a darker red than is normal for Humans. It is an involuntary reaction that occurs when humans are embarrassed or pleased. In this case, I believe Melissa was both embarrassed and pleased. We played for a little longer and then began to discuss 'TV'. I said I had watched many 'soap operas' and I had never understood 'kissing'. It was not, perhaps, the wisest or most Human thing to say, but I was not thinking. Or perhaps my subconscious was more active than I realized at the time.

Melissa looked at me and raised an eyebrow. Humans do this to show puzzlement.

"You know," she said with a slight smile. "You talk so strangely that sometimes I'd swear you were from outer space."

I swallowed hard. I _sincerely_ hoped that she wouldn't _really_ swear that.

"But why do Humans 'kiss'?" I persisted, thinking to distract her, though I do not believe I chose the best approach.

She raised an eyebrow again, leaned toward me, and…

She was very gentle, and it was very pleasant, but very short, too. Then she pulled back and turned very dark red again.

"Oh," I said.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, ashamedly looking down at her hands.

"No, it was very pleasant. But on 'soap operas', it never seems so pleasant, although they do this…"

I opened my arms, moved them around Melissa, and copied her.

It was slightly longer this time. Melissa put her arms around me too, and I found it difficult to breathe. At that point, I heard, 'Ooh, Ax is really _hot_, isn't he?' It was Marco's thought-speak voice. I barely restrained myself from collapsing. Even so, I felt the blood drain from my face.

"I…I have just remembered. I must go home. I have a…um…a physical in ten minutes."

"Oh, that's too bad. Maybe you can come over again sometime?" Melissa replied, sounding disappointed.

"Um…um…if you will give me your…um…telephone number?" I couldn't even voice how sorry I was, and I could only hope that I would not hurt her feelings too badly.

"Oh, sure."

She quickly wrote some numbers on a piece of paper and gave it to me. I walked out the door. My mind was whirling. How could my Human friends betray me like this? My cheeks were now red. I pictured the room. There had been 'Melissa's' cat-Rachel, I was sure-and…several flies, one Marco, the other Cassie, Jake, or Tobias.

I had nearly reached Cassie's barn by now. In front of me I saw a familiar figure. Cassie. So she at least had not betrayed me.

"Ax, what's-oh man. They didn't…" her voice trailed off.

"Yes," I answered shortly.

"Look, come into my barn and demorph, and we'll talk, all right?"

"Yes."


	4. Betrayal and Guilt

Disclaimer: Hum, de dum, the usual. I don't own Animorphs. That would be K.A. Applegate. Sigh.

A/N: Er, heh, heh, sorry. I know I haven't uploaded in ages, and I'm afraid nothing much happens in this chapter either. It's kind of a transition chapter, really. But there is Ax angst! Please, more reviews...'_puppy-dog eyes'_ drat, I can't use stars either. Sigh.

**Cassie**

Ax was in my barn. He was almost crying. Or he would have been if he were Human. I don't think Andalites have tear ducts. Now, I'm not Rachel. I don't have an awful temper. But, man, was I _mad_. "So, what happened?" I asked Ax.

'Melissa Chapman and I were playing Monopoly. Then…we talked…and…we… 'kissed'. Then Marco said, "Ax is hot, isn't he," and I excused myself.' Ax's thought-speak voice shook with suppressed emotion.

I've been angry at my friends before. But nothing like this. I simply could not believe that they would do something of this sort to Ax. I could tell he felt terribly ashamed, and worse, betrayed. It had cost him a lot just to tell me that he and Melissa…it was such a private thing that I felt hot all over just knowing that three of my friends would do this to another member of our little band.

"Ax," I apologized. "I'm sorry. I guess it was partly my fault. See, they told me they were thinking of it, but I didn't think they'd go through with it, and then my dad got a call about a fox being hurt on the highway, and I went with him and forgot-oh, Ax, I'm so sorry."

His stalk eyes were drooping and his tail hung limp.

'It is not your fault, Cassie,' he told me. 'You did not know. I myself would never have suspected such a thing had Marco not spoken. I-I am going to leave now. I wish to be alone.'

I nodded and touched him lightly on his blue-furred shoulder.

"I understand," I said softly.

**Rachel**

Okay, it was a stupid, juvenile thing to do, and we shouldn't have done it. But Marco can be awfully convincing when he wants to be, and-well, I guess it's just human nature to be curious. Don't get me wrong. I'm not excusing our behavior; I'm just explaining it. I started to figure out that something was wrong after Marco said that line about Ax being hot. I swear, his little Andalite ears just pricked up, and somehow-I knew he'd heard Marco.

'Marco!' I hissed in private thought-speak, as Ax almost jumped to his feet. 'You said that out loud, didn't you?'

'WHAT?' Marco's though-speak voice was so aghast that even I, his arch-rival, couldn't believe that it had been intentional.

'Oh man,' I groaned as I watched Ax stumble out the door. 'He's gonna kill us!'

I could hear the shocked regret in Jake's voice as he said worriedly, 'Geez, this was really stupid ,' and Marco chimed in with, 'I'm really sorry, you guys.'

I just shook my cat's head. 'We'd better get back to Cassie's farm,' I said, leaping daintily off the chair where I had been sitting, my feline face knotted in a very human grimace.

When we reached Cassie's barn, I saw a familiar figure standing outside, waiting for us. Cassie's face was dark with anger, and her eyes flashed fire. "Uh oh," Marco murmured when he saw her.

"Oh man," Jake hung his head, blushing in shame.

"What did you guys think you were doing!" Cassie snapped. She _snapped_. My gentle friend who never argues or yells or pouts, but who now was _snapping_. This was _not_ a good sign.

"It was Marco's idea?" I protested feebly, knowing full well what a lame excuse that made.

"And you agree with Marco? Rachel, you of all people should have known better."

As that was just what I had been thinking, I blushed and hung my head. Jake's tight voice added, "You're totally right, Cassie. I-I can't believe we did that. Did Ax-is he really mad?"

Cassie's face grew calm and cold. "No, Jake, he's not mad. And I wonder if you would think that if you _really_ knew Ax. He's not mad at all. He's terribly, terribly hurt and terribly, terribly betrayed, and I don't know how long it will be before he's back to himself."

Jake looked as though he'd been slapped. "I-I-" he stammered.

"I'm not going to say anything else. I'm just disgusted with you," Cassie said. Then she turned and walked straight back into her barn.

"Well, uh, I guess we made Cassie mad," Marco said, trying a feeble quip.

I rounded on him, "Geez, Marco, is that all you can say? We've totally hurt Ax, completely betrayed him, doesn't that mean anything to you?"

Marco at least had the grace to look abashed. Then he did something which utterly took me aback. He scuffed in the dirt with the toe of his shoe and muttered, "You're right, Rachel."

It knocked all the wind out of my sails. I just stared.

"Um, well, I guess if Marco says I'm right, I'm…right."

"We're going to apologize to Ax," Jake said decisively.

"Yeah," I agreed.

Marco nodded. He had a sick, ashamed look on his face.

"Let's…do it?" I ventured, my voice shaking a little. I can face hundreds of evil Yeerks, but one hurt friend sets me quaking in my boots.

"Yeah, I guess," Marco said, dismally.

**Tobias**

It was dark and gloomy and raining. Again. When it rains, I sit in my leaky hollow tree, and it is at times like that that I really think about just being human again. Especially now that-but I'm getting ahead of myself. Way ahead. Anyway, I was sitting in my leaky tree, grumbling to myself about the lack of prey in a wet, soggy meadow, when I caught sight of a lithe blue-deer-shape through the trees.

'Hey, Ax-man!' I called, flapping down out of the three and flying down to him. Right away, I saw that something was wrong. His tail dragged on the ground, and both stalk eyes drooped limply. I came to rest on a nearby branch.

'Ax-man, what's wrong?' I asked.

Ax brightened a bit when he saw me, but when he answered, his voice was laden with shock and hurt. 'Oh, Tobias, at least you have not betrayed me also.'

_'Betrayed_ you?'

'Yes.'

'What _happened_?'

'I would rather not discuss it.'

'Okay, Ax.' I was curious, but I respected his right to privacy. 'Would you prefer me to leave?'

For an instant, one of Ax's stalk eyes flickered upward, but then it drooped again as he answered, 'Yes, Tobias, I would like to be alone. Would you say so if anyone comes to search for me?'

'Sure thing, Ax-man. I'll see them a mile away,' I promised and spiraled upward to the top of the trees, my sharp hawk eyes scanning the horizon.

**Marco**

I felt rotten. I was mad, too, though. Okay, it was my idea. Okay, it was dumb. But did Jake and Rachel have to act like it was all my fault? I hadn't exactly forced them into coming with me. I stomped behind Jake, scowling to myself, as we slogged through the cold late summer rain toward Ax's forest. Deep down, I was feeling really guilty, but I usually cover my feelings with more jokes, which would have been worse than useless at that point. So I trudged gloomily after my friends. We were pretty near Ax's home, when a slim bird-shape floated down from the trees.

'Hey, guys,' Tobias said. 'Ax-man doesn't want to be disturbed.'

"Not that I blame him," I mumbled quietly. Tobias turned his big yellow eyes on me.

'What do you mean, Marco?' Tobias asked.

"Didn't he tell you?" Rachel asked quickly, running a hand through her long, blond hair.

'Nope. So I guess I shouldn't ask. He'll tell me when he's ready.'

"Yeah, well, suffice to say, we hurt his feelings pretty badly," Jake said, sounding stressed and ashamed.

"It was my idea," I mumbled, kicking at a loose stone and staring at the ground.

'He said something about being betrayed,' Tobias said thoughtfully. 'Don't worry. He'll probably feel better soon. I mean, what you did can't have been that bad, right?'

Rachel bit her lip. "It was pretty bad, Tobias. If somebody had doe it to me, I-I'd have flung them through the nearest window."

'Oh.'

"We better go," I managed, still staring at the ground.

The last thing I saw as we turned and left was Tobias sitting on the tree, water dripping slowly down his dark feathers.


	5. A Surprise Visitor

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Animorphs. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this as fanfiction. Surprise.

**A/N**: Okay, here's the chapter I promised where things start to get exciting. Voila, Melissa angst, Ax angst. Coming soon: Marco angst. Please review! And let me apologize again about the thought-speak brackets not working.

**Melissa**

I sat staring at the Monopoly board for a long time after Philip left, tears starting to my eyes. I'd never kissed a boy before-in fact, I couldn't believe I'd had the courage to make the first move-but Philip seemed so utterly naïve and innocent, I didn't think he'd even brought up the subject intentionally. And then he kissed me back, and he was so sweet and gentle I felt happier than I have since my parents started acting like they don't love me anymore. And then he just got up and-left. And I was devastated. _Maybe he didn't mean it or maybe I-maybe I'm just not meant to be loved, _I thought miserably.

I began sobbing as if my heart would break.

'Shhh, don't cry.'

I jumped up with a shriek. "Wh-who is it?" I stammered fearfully.

'Just me.' I stared down at my ginger tom-cat as he jumped onto the couch next to me.

"Don't be stupid. Animals can't talk."

'Well, I am not precisely an animal.'

"Oh yeah? What are you then?"

'An alien. A shape-shifting alien.'

I laughed, high-pitched and nervous. "Say again?"

'A shape-shifting alien.'

The cat suddenly heaved upwards. His fur turned blue and his eyes yellow. His ears lengthened into antenna-like protuberances, and two more eyes blinked open at the top of them. I stood riveted to the spot with terror and horror. Finally, the transformation ended, and a strange, slim, blue deer-like creature stood before me. He had two eyes on the antennae, and two more in the normal position. Slits formed a nose, but there was no mouth. He had the torso of a man and the body of a deer, kind of like a mythical centaur.

"Wh-wh-who are you?" I stammered, terrified.

'Do not be alarmed, my dear Miss Chapman,' the blue-deer thing spread out its hands calmly. 'I mean you no harm.'

"Then what are you doing in my house?" I demanded, edging toward the poker by the fireplace and staring nervously at the scorpion-like tail, tipped with shining blade, that curved gracefully over his back.

'Please, Miss Chapman, I truly don't want to hurt you. My name is Alloran Semitur Corass,' he said smoothly.

"That's nice. What do you want with me?" I may not be as daredevil as Rachel, my one-time best friend, but when I'm trapped in a corner, I can be pretty scary. On the other hand, this guy had such an aura of power-such an air of being totally control of any given situation-that I was rooted to the spot.

'There was a boy in here just now, wasn't there?'

I didn't know what to do. I mean, I knew nothing about this guy. Why should I trust him? On the other hand, what possible reason could a blue alien scorpion-centaur have to lie to me? I wasn't thinking too clearly at the time, I'll admit, but having a furry blue shape shifting alien turn up in your living room without warning can do that to a person. So I nodded.

"Uh-huh. His name was Philip."

'I wonder if you would be surprised to learn that that is not his real name?'

I just stared, too confused to speak.

'We are uncertain of his real name, but he is one of a group of bandits who are trying to sabotage my mission here on Earth.'

"Really," I gulped. "And what mission is that?"

I thought he hesitated for a moment, but then he spoke glibly enough, 'To study the Earth and protect it from outside influences until it is ready to join the Galactic Union.'

"What's that?" I asked, feeling extremely silly.

'A group of-extraterrestrial races-which had formed one government, like your United States.'

"Oh. Why are you telling me this?"

'Because we're afraid you are a target of these bandits. They'll take you into their confidence, and then they will attempt to feed you all kinds of lies about a parasitic infestation of the human race.'

I was beginning to be suspicious of this guy. He was too confident, too sure of himself-as if he were the chess player, and I the pawn. Well, this pawn didn't like it.

"Excuse me," I interrupted. "I'm not sure I understand. Philip came in here and left, not after having gained my confidence, but after having aroused my suspicions. If he were a bandit, that doesn't seem like a sensible way to behave."

'Exactly,' Alloran Semitur Corrass said quickly. Maybe a little too quickly. 'You are quite correct. It is a devious, though brilliant, double bluff. Exactly what I would have expected from one of the An-from one of the bandits.'

I found his slip of the tongue-innocent as it might have been-more suspicious, and I nodded noncommittally.

'You don't have to take my word for it right away, Alloran said. Please, just give the matter a little thought?'

"Fine," I agreed grudgingly, making up my mind to go and talk to Philip as soon as this person had left. Alloran smiled; his body shrank, stalk eyes shlooping into his head and popping out a moment later as pointed, fluffy ears, his blue fur changing to tan, his tail melting into a thin, furry, non-lethal one-and this time I heard, as I had been too frightened to hear before, the creaking, groaning, and squishing of organs and bones reshaping themselves.

"Oh, gross!" I exclaimed, clapped my hand over my mouth, and ran for the bathroom.

**Cassie**

I was very bad-temperedly sweeping out the barn. I am not a bad-tempered person, usually. But what Jake, Rachel, and Marco had done really made me mad.

"Um…Cassie, right?" the voice made me spin around.

"Oh, hi, Melissa, what do you want?" I asked softly.

"Um…do you know where I could find Philip? I need to talk to him about something, and Jake and Rachel aren't home."

I thought quickly. I could hardly tell Melissa where to look for Ax-quite apart from the fact she might think it strange, he probably wasn't in human morph. I sighed. There was nothing for it but to run and get him. "Hang on, I'll go get him," I said. "I won't be a minute. He's--uh, he's out back looking at the--uh, horses."

"Thanks," Melissa said shyly.

"No problem," I called over my shoulder as I ran into the barn. I ran through the barn and out into the field out back. I was considering morphing a horse for extra speed, when there was a rustle, and a familiar blue-deer-shape emerged from the trees.

"Ax!" I called. I could see he was deep in thought.

'Ah. Cassie.' His thought-speak voice was shy, nervous.

"Melissa wants to talk to you. She's in the yard," I explained.

'She does? She is?' Ax brightened immediately, and a second later, his stalk eyes shlooped back into his head, and I realized he was morphing. It was an unusually fast morph. His hand legs and that entire part of his back pulled into his human back, his arms grew longer, and his tiny fingers twined into strong human ones. Then the fur receded with a ripple. I stared. I'd never seen anyone complete a morph as fast as Ax had just done. He felt my scrutiny and blushed. "What is the matter-muh-muh-tuh-ter, Cassie-kuh?"

"I-nothing. That was-pretty quick, is all."

He turned an even deeper shade of red. "I-I do not wish-shuh-sh to keep Melissa waiting," he replied.

"Oh, um, of course," I responded, nodding. "Perfectly natural, Ax."

He nodded and smiled and took off over the grass. My mouth dropped open. Ax was running-really running-on his two skimpy human legs without even a tail to balance him!

**Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill**

What did she want? Was she angry? I raced through Cassie's barn and into the yard, lost my balance on my two extremely wobbly human legs and sprawled on the ground.

"Oh…hi, Philip."

I got up, my face a beet red. A beet is an Earth vegetable which is a _very_ dark red.

"Good day-yuh, Melissa. Why did you wish to speak with me?"

Melissa took a step forward. She seemed somehow nervous. Nervous? I did not understand. Why would she be nervous?

"Philip, there's something I really need to talk to you about."

"Shoot." 'Shoot' is an Earth term which can mean several things. First of all, it is the verb for what projectile weapons do when they discharge their projectiles. Second, it is an expression of annoyance, akin to the Andalite term, 'krip-ja'. And third, it tells another person that you are ready to listen to them. In this case, I used it to mean I was ready to listen to Melissa.

She seemed slightly startled to hear me use the expression.

"This…guy came to see me after you left," she began. The way she said 'guy' made me wonder who this person could have been.

"Yes?" I prompted.

"He said you were a bandit."

"A bandit?" A bandit? Oh, no. "Did he say 'Andalite bandit'?" I asked fearfully.

Melissa shook her head, something humans do to indicate a negative. "Just a bandit. He said you were here to stop him from bringing Earth into the Galactic Union."

I snorted. "That is ridiculous. There is no such thing as a Galactic Union. We Andalites--" Oops.

Melissa's mouth dropped open. "You really _are_ an alien, like he said! Are you a bandit?"

I sighed in resignation. "Yes, I am an alien. No, I am not a bandit. Who is this man who came to see you?"

'Me.' I jumped in surprise and fright as _He_ stepped out from behind a nearby tree. Visser Three, my brother's murderer. He was in his Andalite form. My single Human heart almost stopped. I was in human morph, completely vulnerable. There was no way I could morph to Andalite fast enough to escape or fight. I saw the gleam of triumph in Visser Three's eyes.

'Yes, my brave Andalite warrior, I have caught you.'

He turned to Melissa. 'Do not move, or I _will_ kill him.'

Melissa choked down a cry of horror. I was about to cry to her that Visser Three would not kill me, but I heard the Visser's private thought-speak in my head. 'Perhaps I would not kill you, Andalite. But I _would_ kill her. Think about that.'

I clamped my mouth shut again. I could not let Melissa be slain. I said nothing. I felt a whoosh of air as something unseen alighted on the ground. A darkness in nothing-the door of the Bug Fighter's hatchway-opened slowly. A tall Hork-Bajir stepped out and grabbed me roughly by the arm. He pressed a Dracon beam to my head. The cold circle of metal touching my temple renewed my fear, but I would _not_ show it-I would not give in to Visser Three, and at the very first opportunity, I would strike back at my brother's killer.


	6. A Kidnapping

**Disclaimer:** I wish I did own Animorphs. But, I don't. Surprise, surprise.

**A/N:** Well, on to the next chapter! Hurrah! Fun, excitement now ensues! Thanks so much for all the great reviews, and I do apologize for the millionth time about the thoughtspeak. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to send me a message. Just as a reminder: what I'm doing is putting the thought-speak in single quotations, like this: ', and normal speech in double quotations, like this: ".

**Marco**

Rachel, Jake, and I were flying around in bird-of-prey morphs, just killing time, I guess. Killing time until Ax was ready to talk. Killing time until we could apologize and hope to God he'd forgive us. We were circling in the air above Cassie's barn-not too close to each other; we didn't want to excite suspicion. I happened to be the first one to see a small, fair-haired girl walk into the yard.

'Hey, guys, isn't that Melissa Chapman?' I asked curiously.

Rachel turned a golden eye in my direction. 'Yeah,' she replied, in a tone of surprise which would seem to indicate she didn't have a lot of faith in my recognition skills.  
'Wonder what she's doing here?' Jake said, but without much interest.

'Maybe she'll make Ax feel better,' Rachel said hopefully.

'Maybe,' Jake replied. 'Look, guys, I think I'll go take a turn over the forest and see if I can see Ax, okay?'

'Sure,' I said. I didn't feel much like joking at this point, so I didn't follow up my remark.

'I'll go with you,' Rachel offered.

'Yeah, okay,' Jake replied.

'I'll just stay here and see if I can find out why Melissa is here,' I decided. Jake and Rachel didn't answer. Instead, they turned and soared off above the forest. I continued circling. After about five minutes, the door of the barn burst open, and Ax ran out in his human morph, falling over his own feet and skidding to a halt in the dirt just in front of Melissa Chapman. They started talking about something, but I couldn't hear them. I must have been up too high. I was just thinking that I should fly off to join Jake and Rachel so I wasn't intruding on Ax's privacy for the second time in a day, when I heard, 'Me.'

I nearly fell out of the air. The Andalite form appeared from behind a tree. Terrified, I yelled at the top of my private thought-speak lungs, 'Jake! Rachel! Tobias! Cassie!'

There was no answer. Jake, Rachel, and Tobias must be out of range. There was no way to know if Cassie had heard me; she wasn't in morph and couldn't thought-speak back. On the off-chance she'd heard me, I called, 'Visser Three! We have problems, people!'

Visser Three was speaking, '…Andalite warrior, I have caught you.' Then he looked at Melissa. 'Do not move, or I _will _kill him.'

I knew that had to be so much bull. He couldn't risk killing Ax, with his valuable morph-capable body. Ax didn't seem to say anything, though, which suggested to me Visser Three had probably threatened Melissa as well.

'Melissa,' I hissed in private thought-speak. I saw her jerk a little in surprise. 'DON'T react. It's Marco. I see you. Um, um, I'm going to try to-'

'Marco…what…doing?' Rachel's thought-speak voice was faint and far-away. 'Thought…heard you…?'

I didn't answer. I couldn't. Something was opening out of nothing. A Bug-Fighter. It had to be. Ax was being shoved into it, and then Visser Three grabbed Melissa and hustled her in, too. There was only one chance. I was an osprey. I don't have as fast a dive as Jake's peregrine falcon, but ospreys do have to be pretty fast to catch fish for dinner. Taking a mental deep breath, I folded my wings and dove. Okay, I should have waited for Jake and Rachel to show up. But I was feeling really guilty about Ax and all, and I kind of felt that this was my fault. Consequently, I wasn't thinking all that clearly.

The black opening in nothing was getting smaller and smaller. If I didn't make it, I was going to be an osprey pancake on the side of the Bug-Fighter. I tried not to think about it.

'Marco, what are you doing!' I heard Cassie's voice scream, and I knew she must just have finished a morph. I shot into the last five inches of space in the doorway and leveled off, high up near the ceiling of the Bug-Fighter, hoping that no one would think to look up, and already mentally calculating how much time I had left in morph.

It was crowded in the Bug-Fighter. Ax was surrounded by two Hork-Bajir, who kept his hands pinned behind his back. A Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon piloted the ship. Visser Three dumped Melissa down in the back and stood with his arms folded, bawling instructions at the pilots and the guards. I swooped down to land lightly in front of Melissa's tear-stained face. Her eyes grew wide with shock.

'Melissa, don't say anything, it's um…well…Marco.'

Dumb. Pretty dumb. But what else could I say?

"Marco?" she whispered, putting out her hand to touch one of my wings gently.

'Um, it's a long story. Just keep watch and make sure no one comes back here-oh, and try not to throw up.'

Great suggestion. I began to demorph, as soundlessly as I could. Melissa's eyes grew wider, but she didn't make a sound. As soon as I had finished, she whispered, "You really _are_ a freak, Marco. And I always thought it was a figure of speech."

Wonderful. Suddenly she had a sense of humor.

"I can't explain right now. Um, there's a bunch of parasitic aliens trying to take over earth, and we're fighting them. Yeah."

It was concise. Maybe not too clear, but concise. Melissa just stared. I rolled my eyes and started to morph a fly. Whoops. I should have warned her, since the first thing that happened was that huge fly eyes popped out of my head. Melissa shrieked. I cursed everything from my unlucky stars to my own stupidity and tried to speed up the morph.

I heard the Visser's thought-speak voice, 'What is it, girl?'

There was a thunder of hooves as he began to make his way back. Melissa jumped up and started to have very convincing hysterics. "Who _are _you?" she screamed. "What am I doing here? Why did you kidnap me?"

Then she started just screaming. Visser Three just stood staring for a couple of minutes, which gave me enough to complete my morph.

'Thanks,' I murmured to Melissa in private thought-speak. She kept right on screaming. _Wow_, was all I could think. _I didn't know that girl could act._

Visser Three began investigating suspiciously, so I buzzed up to Melissa's ear and inside. She sort of twitched, but she didn't say anything. I started racking my brains to come up with a plan. Knowing the Visser, he might not want to infest Ax right away, but what about Melissa? And she'd seen me morph, AND she knew who I was. My stomach twisted as I thought of my dad. I didn't want to think about it. I would just have to rescue her.

**Cassie**

I was in the barn, cleaning out the stall of an injured raccoon, when I heard Marco yell in thoughtspeak, 'Jake! Rachel! Tobias! Cassie!'

I wasn't in morph, so I couldn't answer. I was running for the door of the barn when I heard, 'Visser Three! We have problems, people!'

I realized I couldn't just run out there if Visser Three were out there; that really would be putting my foot in it. I began to morph to wolf as fast as I knew how. As soon as I had thought-speak capability, I screamed for Jake, Rachel, and Tobias, but I don't think they heard me. They must have been out of range.

As soon as the morph was complete, I barreled out of the barn. Things were not good. I couldn't see Ax or Melissa anywhere; all I could see was a rapidly closing dark hole in nothing, which I suspected was the hatch of a Bug Fighter. I heard the scream of a bird of prey and I turned my head automatically toward the sound. Suddenly, I caught sight of an osprey shooting toward the dark hole in nothing with the speed of a missile. It was Marco. It had to be. But what did he think he was doing!

'Marco, what are you doing!' I shrieked at the top of my thought-speak lungs, but he didn't react. What was he doing! If he didn't make it, he'd be killed! It was only seconds, but I saw it all almost in slow motion: the black hole growing steadily smaller; the bird plummeting toward it, faster, faster…he made it!

I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding, and nearly collapsed, wolf though I was.

'Thank God,' I muttered under my breath. Marco can be annoying at times, but after Rachel's dream--I was just glad he was alive.

'Cassie?' It was Rachel. I could see her bald eagle circling in the sky just above me.

'Yes?' I answered faintly, still weak with relief.

'Um…where's Marco?'

I sighed. 'This is not good,' I stated, instead of answering.

'Cassie?' Jake this time. He must have been just behind Rachel. 'Cassie? What's not good?'

I shook my shaggy gray head. 'You are not going to like this.'

**Jake**

"He did WHAT?"

Cassie sighed and rubbed her forehead. "He dived into the Bug Fighter, Jake."

I sank down onto a bale of hay. "Why? Why didn't he just wait for us? What's he trying to do, be a hero?" Even as I said it, I knew it wasn't true. Marco's not the person to take that kind of unnecessary risk. He's always been the most cautious of us. Behind all his jokes, there's a really smart guy, and he knows that what he should do, know matter _what_ happens, is wait for the rest of the team to get there. Well, he didn't. And what we thought had happened was that Melissa and Ax had somehow been taken by Visser Three. And now Marco was up there with them.

"No, Jake, he didn't want to be a hero."

Rachel was standing with her arms crossed at one side of the barn. Tobias was perched on her shoulder. Cassie had been standing next to one of the cages across the barn from me. Now she came over to me, her dark face pinched with worry, and put her hand on my shoulder.

"Jake, I think I know what was going on."

"Please. Tell me." I was tired, I was so tired of being the leader, of making all the tough decisions, but now Marco's decision had just added an extra ten pounds onto the weight on my shoulders. Cassie smiled at me, that smile that always makes me think that she knows exactly what I'm thinking, and maybe she does.

"Okay. Here's what happened: You guys were feeling guilty about what you did to Ax--and no wonder," Cassie added with a touch of heat. Rachel ducked her head down, and I blushed at the reminder.

"Yeah," Rachel agreed quietly.

"Well, Marco was feeling just as bad as you two, probably worse, since it was his idea, something I doubt he was allowed to forget." Again, I blushed, but in a detached corner of my mind, I realized Cassie had to be awfully tired to be as snippy as she was being. Not that I blamed her. If I were her, I'd be snippy too.

"Sorry," Cassie gave my shoulder a squeeze. "I'm just tired and worried. Anyway, he was feeling really guilty. So then, he's flying around and he sees, well, we don't know, but we think he sees Visser Three capture Ax and Melissa and start to take them away. He knows that you, Rachel, and Tobias haven't heard him. He has no idea whether I've heard, and he's faced with a split-second decision: do nothing and wait for you guys to get there, or go after Melissa and Ax himself."

"Yes, but why did he--" I began, and Cassie laid a gentle finger on my lips.

"Shhh, let me finish. He's feeling really guilty about Ax, so he's not thinking terribly clearly, maybe he thinks it was his fault, we don't know. But anyway, he takes the course of action we were warned he'd take by the Ellimist: he acts. He can't stay still and do nothing, so he goes after them. Get it?"

I groaned. "Yeah. Yeah, I get it. I just wish--I just wish none of this had happened."

Cassie smiled at me, a small sad smile. "Do you mean you wish you'd never spied on Ax, or do you mean you wish we'd never walked home through that construction site?"

I started to answer but stopped and raised my hands in the air tiredly. "I don't know, Cassie. I just don't know."

"Because if the second, you have to remember, because of that we're able to make a difference, maybe save our planet, and we do have each other, Jake. We do have each other."

How can someone be so right so much of the time?


	7. An Unexpected Discovery

**Disclaimer: **Blah. I don't own Animorphs. Blah blah. Boring...Marco? Yes, I'm looking at you. Come here. Right. Good boy. Stand there. Tell them I don't own Animorphs. What? Yes, you DO want to tell them. I don't care that I'm interrupting your stupid video game! Tell them now, or I'll--I'll--I'll make you fall in love with Jake!

Marco (cowed): Er. She doesn't own Animorphs. NOW can I play my video game?

Me: Yeah. You're cute.

**A/N: **Now that that bout of disclaimer insanity is over, hello to everyone! And sorry that this is a rather short chapter, but I could be induced to post a longer one next time if I get reviews. (wink, wink.)

**Marco**

I couldn't believe it! I could not believe it. I leave for a minute to demorph and they lock me out! All of the doors to where Ax and Melissa were being kept were shut and locked. Now what was I going to do? I barely restrained myself from kicking the door, which would have pretty much the dumbest thing I could have done.

Instead, I sank back against it, wondering how I could rescue Ax and Melissa. I needed a diversion. I knew that. But what kind of a diversion? That I didn't know. On the other hand standing around until I got caught by some nosy Hork-Bajir sentry didn't seem like the wisest decision. So I started walking. I didn't have a clue where I was going, but I figured it would be best to look as if I had some sort of destination. I hadn't walked more than ten yards when I saw a door marked, "Weapons" in English, Spanish, something that looked like French, and a couple other languages that didn't look like they were from Earth.

_Hmmm…_ I thought. _I could use a weapon or two._

This door, luckily, and pretty surprisingly, wasn't locked. It whooshed open as I stood in front of it, and I went in. Then I stopped in horror.

In the center of the room was a small pool of gray sludge, which I recognized immediately. It wasn't teeming with Yeerks, but I could see at least one in it. Then I saw a cage made out of some kind of metal I didn't recognize. A girl was inside it, and she looked as if she were asleep. I looked at her, and then I had to look again.

I've gone out with some pretty good-looking girls--well, one good-looking girl--well, one girl, that's pretty much it. But she was the most beautiful girl in the school, even if our relationship didn't exactly get off the ground. We went to a concert and I kind of fell asleep, and when I woke up, she was gone. What can I say? I'm not a big fan of classical. Anyway, that's not the point. So, like I said, I've _known_ some pretty good-looking girls. This girl totally blew them all away.

She was pale, but she had this really dark hair, almost black. The lashes from her closed eyes spread over her cheeks, making a striking contrast to her white face. For a second, I just stood there, my mouth hanging open.

_Breathe, Marco,_ I told myself. _You don't know what she's like when she's awake. She could be a total airhead. She certainly has the looks._

Not that that's much of an indication, since Rachel has the looks too, and she's not exactly your typical mall-rat airhead. The girl I was looking at stirred in her sleep. I suddenly realized I really didn't want her to see me in my human form. For one thing, it would be unsafe, since she was almost certainly a Controller. For another--and I'm not particularly proud of this--I figured I could impress her a lot more if she didn't know what I looked like. So I faded back into the shadows and started morphing gorilla.

I love gorilla morph. It's probably my favorite, even better than osprey. It just makes me so powerful. I'm a little guy, normally, short, and not too heavily built, either. So when I turn into this huge creature, bigger than the biggest human, with these massive muscles, and even better, the long arms with their pile-driver fists on the end, I get almost drunk with my power. The morphing part of it wasn't all that great this time, though. First, I just shot up, but I didn't get any wider, so I looked like a sort of stretched human silly putty. Then I bulked out, my muscles catching up with the rest of me. Brown fur rippled across my enormous body. My nose and mouth swelled out. Finally, the morph was complete. I was a gorilla.

I approached the cage where the girl was lying.

'Uh…would you like me to rescue you?' I could have kicked myself.

_Marco, Marco, Marco_, I berated myself. _And you call yourself a fast talker._

The girl's eyelids fluttered. Her eyes came fully open, and they were blue. Of course. Couldn't she even have one less-than-exceptional feature? I swallowed hard. Even in my gorilla body, I could feel my heart palpitating. The girl's eyes focused on me and widened. She didn't cry out, but she gave a sort of gasp and pressed herself against the back of the cage.

'It's--it's all right,' I said, trying to think how Ax normally talked and mimic him. 'I'm-I am an Andalite.'

"An Andalite? Of course." She relaxed a little. If I hadn't known, from the fact that she was in a cage, that she wasn't under a Yeerk's control, I would have known then. I saw hope spring into her eyes.

"Did you just offer to rescue me?" she asked timidly, as if she couldn't believe it. Then she went on talking as if I weren't there. "No, that can't be. I've got to be dreaming."

'Um-' _NOT UM! Don't say UM, Marco, get a grip on yourself!_ 'I mean, you're not dreaming. I-Visser Three has kidnapped two of my-companions, and I was trying to rescue them when I found you. Would you like me to-uh-rescue you?'

She scooted to the front of the cage, grasping the bars with her hands, her eyes shocked and almost frightened. "Be rescued? Me? I mean, yes, of course, but I never thought-"

'Great-I mean, wonderful. Now, how do I open this thing?' I'd been mostly talking to myself, but she took it as a question.

"Well, you move the…" she launched into a long and convoluted explanation. I'd completely lost it by the second word; I was too busy staring at her and trying to pretend I wasn't staring.

'Let's do it the easy way,' I said suddenly. I grabbed the bars with my giant gorilla ham fists and tugged. They came apart easily. The girl looked at the opening between them and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "I-I've been a Controller for four years, and I didn't think that anyone would ever rescue me."

'I understand. My-' I cut off my sentence right there. I'd been about to say my mother was a Controller, which would definitely have blown my cover. I tried desperately to think up a good lie. 'My friend was once a Controller. He's told me about it. We-we rescued him,' I finished somewhat lamely, forestalling the obvious question.

"Oh," the girl didn't sound disinterested exactly, more like distracted.

'Oh, uh, what's-what is your name?' I asked her.

"Julie," she answered shortly. I could tell she wasn't about to give me her full name. I couldn't blame her. Four years as a Controller is enough to make anyone edgy.

'So, um, shall we go?'

"Where?" Oh. Yeah. Brain, Marco.

'Um, I'm not sure. I need to rescue my-companions.'

"Of course. Do you have a plan?"

'No, I-' It was at that precise moment that my eyes lit on a stack of stuff in the corner-stuff that looked an awful lot like dynamite.

'Wait a minute, maybe I do.'

"What?" She followed my gaze. "You're gonna blow this place up?"

'Well, it would create a diversion,' I replied, still trying to sound as much like Ax as I knew how.

She shrugged and almost smiled. "I'm not saying no. Sounds like a good idea to me. We could escape in one of the Bug-Fighters, with your friends."

She was smart, too! Oh, why me? Why now? I didn't need this kind of distraction.


	8. Julie

**Disclaimer: **Um, hmmm...must think up original way to do disclaimer. Am bored. Oh well. --The Animorphs troop out holding signs. Cassie is first. Hers says, "Alenida does," followed by Rachel, whose says, "not own." Then comes Jake, "Animorphs," Ax, "They are," Tobias "the property of," Marco, "K.A. Applegate."--

**A/N:** Here's a nice long chapter to make up for the relatively short one from last time! Please, please R&R and many thanks to everybody who has so far! I love reviews! I love my readers! I think I'm a little hyper! Wheee! Oh, and I'm going to try doing thought-speak in parentheses, now, like (this,) since I think that's a bit clearer.

**Melissa**

Philip and I were thrown into a small, gray room, a sort of metal box. I hadn't been completely acting when I had my hysterical screaming fit. I felt completely confused-I didn't know what was going on. My--"boyfriend"--was an alien. We had just been kidnapped by evil aliens. That was about all my mind could get a grip on. Oh, that and the fact that Marco had turned into a fly.

"Um…Philip?" I said in a quavering voice as we were thrown into the room.

He sighed. "I believe I have some explaining-Xplaining-X-to do."

"Yes, I'd say you have," I agreed faintly.

"I am an Andalite," he began.

"What is an Andalite?" I asked weakly.

In answer, his body began to melt and change, as Marco's had done, as, earlier, "my cat's" had done. In a very short time, he was a blue deer-like animal with a curving scorpion-shaped tail. I yelped and pressed myself backward against the wall.

"But-that's what-the person who kidnapped us is. Is there a civil war going on or something?"

(No. Although the-) his jaw tightened. (-Abomination who has captured us wears an Andalite form, he is no true Andalite, but a Yeerk.)

"A Yeerk."

(Yeerks are parasites. Small, gray, sentient slugs who take over the minds of those they infest. As a matter of fact, Melissa, both of your parents have been taken over by Yeerks. They-and the Abomination you have seen-are what is known as 'Controllers'.)

"M-my parents are…what?"

(I am afraid that they are Controllers, Melissa. That is why it seems as if they no longer love you. Controllers can imitate the way their host would act, for they have access to all of their host's memories and feelings, but their imitations can be-flawed-in some respects. When it seems to you that they do not love you, that is because the Yeerks who control them do not love you, but I know for a fact, Melissa-Rachel has told me-that they love you a great deal more than you may ever know.)

He reached over with what was now a thin, delicate, blue hand with too many fingers and touched me softly on the cheek. I didn't know how to react. I just accepted it; everything else felt so weird.

"What's your real name?" I asked. "It's not really Philip, is it?"

(No. My name is Aximili-Esgarrouth-Isthill.)

I simply stared.

(Most of my human friends know me as "Ax". You may call me the same.)

"Ax," I tried it out. The letters seemed odd, foreign to my tongue. I started giggling, almost without knowing why.

(Melissa?) His voice in my head was concerned.

"It's just-Marco turned into a _fly_, Phili-Ax! A _fly_! He looked so _weird_!" And all of a sudden I was laughing and crying at the same time and Philip-Ax looked extremely worried and came over and laid his hand gently on my back.

(Melissa? What is the matter?)

"He turned into a fly! First he was a bird and then he was Marco and then he was a fly!"

(Melissa, please do not say this out loud. The Yeerks may be listening.)

I raised my tear-stained face to look into his. It was totally changed, but somehow I could see the Philip I knew behind the alien face of Aximili. "Why not?"

(I am one of a small band who resist the Yeerks. There are only me, Marco, Jake, Cassie, Tobias, and Rachel. The Yeerks must not discover that the other five are humans.)

It was at this point that I gave up trying to understand and just started bawling into Ax's shoulder.

**Julie**

To wake up and find yourself staring at a gorilla is quite shocking. But to wake up and find yourself staring at a talking gorilla which says it is an Andalite which will rescue you is quite a bit more than just "shocking". My name is Julie. I am not going to tell you my last name. Not yet, anyway. The last four years of my life have cured me of over-hastily revealing personal details.

I live in Minnesota, most of the time. At least, I used to, before the Yeerk in my head managed to get herself promoted, which led to her spending more and more time on the blade ship, and me with her. I used to be a normal girl, with a fairly normal life. Like I said, I lived in Minnesota, and I went to school there. I was a bit of a loner throughout my school career. I didn't get close to many people-just my one best friend, and then, when I was eleven, my cousin, Hanna. Hanna's parents were killed in a car crash when I was eleven and she was four. She had no living relatives but my family, and she came to live with us. Hanna was always a smart kid, a bit like me, my mother says, though I never saw the resemblance.

When I was thirteen years old, I of course started middle school. I hated it. I was lonelier than ever; most of my friends went off and became friends with other people. Eventually, the only friends I had were Hanna and Evan, a boy who was nice, but not very bright. I had so much homework that I didn't get to see Hanna all that much of the time, even though I was living with her.

I suppose you think that I became a voluntary Controller. I suppose the set-up is perfect: lonely girl with no friends finds out about Sharing, joins, and eventually becomes a voluntary Controller, which she later regrets. But it didn't happen like that at all. I never was a big one for that kind of social group. True, the Sharing did try to recruit me several times, but I wasn't interested. No, the reason I became a Controller was because I left a book in my locker. That sounds a little silly, doesn't it? The only thing that really explains it is what has recently become my favorite proverb: "For want of the nail, the shoe was lost; for want of the shoe the horse was lost; for want of the horse the rider was lost; for want of the rider, the battle was lost; for want of the battle the war was lost; for want of the war the kingdom was lost; and all for the want of the horseshoe nail." Well, that book I left was the horseshoe nail.

It was an English book. I didn't really need it; I had finished to the assigned place in class, but I was quite interested in it, so I decided to get a head-start by finishing it. The only trouble with that was that I left it in my locker. I realized that I had left it in my locker after I had completed the rest of my homework, by which time it was about five o'clock. Fortunately, we lived within walking distance of the school, so I just strolled over.

The school looked dark and forbidding and gloomy with no one inside it. I was half-hoping the doors would be locked, but they weren't. I pulled one of them open and peeked inside. There was no one there. I slipped in and looked around. All the lights were out. I could see the inside of the main office, as the windows were glass. Someone had left a stapler lying out on their desk, and there was a pencil on the floor, next to the wastebasket. Someone had probably tried to throw it away and missed, not bothering to pick it up. For some reason, there was a prickling feeling on the back of my neck. I was scared, well and truly scared.

If I'd had any sense, I would have turned around then and left my book until the next day. I didn't, though. Instead I tiptoed nervously over to my locker, which was near the door. I was just twiddling with the combination (wouldn't you know, my locker was stuck again), when I heard footsteps. Footsteps in a deserted school is not something you ever want to hear. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Instead of being a sensible girl and just running away, screaming, I pressed myself against my locker, trying to quiet my breathing so I wouldn't be heard.

The footsteps came down the corridor, but in the semi-darkness whoever it was didn't notice me. I turned my head a little and squinted; my eyes had had time to adjust to the light, so I could see the person. It was a girl in my grade. I didn't know her awfully well, because she was one of the popular crowd, and I--wasn't. She came down the row of lockers and, as I watched, opened a locker I was _sure_ didn't belong to her.

That was where I made my second mistake. Instead of being a sensible girl and assuming she had permission, or running off to the police, or even just confronting her, I snuck over behind her. She reached into the back of the locker and pulled it open. I stared at the golden light that streamed out. The girl nonchalantly stepped through and closed it behind her. I didn't move; I was too stricken. For about five minutes, I stood there, goggling. Then I made my third mistake.

I don't know what I should have done at that point, but I do know what I should _not_ have done, because it was what I did. That is, I felt the back of the locker, found a knob to turn, turned it, opened the back of the locker, and went through, feeling very much as if I had suddenly stepped into the Chronicles of Narnia. The feeling didn't last too long.

I made my way down a flight of rickety iron stairs and through a door, and then I stopped, aghast. Horrified, I stared around. There was a huge, gray pool in the middle of the floor, teeming with slugs. Disgusting, green-and-gray slugs, the kind you might avoid because squishing them would be too nasty to contemplate. And around the edges of this pool, there were cages. Hundreds of them. And inside each one, several people were sitting, or standing, or lying. Some of them sat staring blankly; others were crying or screaming or yelling. I stood and stared for a minute and clapped my hand to my mouth. I was sure I was going to be sick.

I dropped to my knees, before realizing that it might behoove me to leave rapidly, but when I looked up, there was a huge dinosaur-like creature standing over me. Blades sprouted from its head and limbs. I screamed and tried to run. I ran straight for one of the cages and cannoned into it, so hard that I knocked the door off the hinges. The people inside reacted immediately, scattering like rabbits, running for the exit. I was up again in a moment; for a miracle, I hadn't been caught.

I kept running and those dinosaur-things and some people not in cages kept trying to catch me and the other people who'd gotten out. It was mayhem. My head was buzzing with shock, fear, and curiosity. I didn't know what was going on. Only five minutes ago, my life had been normal. Now, it would never be the same again.

None of the runners lasted very long. I was the last to be caught, because I hadn't ever had a Yeerk in my head, and I was completely in control of my own body. I was, that is, until Visser Three himself came in and ordered me straight to the Yeerk pool. I screamed and tried to struggle, but it wasn't any use. Two dinosaur-creatures (or Hork-Bajir, if you prefer) grabbed and held me in grips of iron as they forced my head down into the sludgy Yeerk pool.

For one horrible instant, I thought they were going to drown me. Then came the even more horrible sensation of a slimy slug reaching into my ear and squeezing down into my brain. I tried to jerk my head back, but I couldn't move. I tried to look somewhere else, but I couldn't move. I tried to scream, but the only place my voice sounded was in my head.

(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!)

(Be quiet,) said a bored voice right into my _mind_.

I screamed again.

(I said, be quiet. I realize you've never been infested before, and I'm sure it's a traumatizing experience. But I don't have time for this. Shut up.)

(Who-who are you?) I choked out--well, maybe 'choked' isn't the right word.

(I am Renor-2-5-7,) the voice replied.

_(What_ are you?)

(A Yeerk. Much superior to you pitiful little humans on your little backward planet.)

(A-a Yeerk? What have you _done_ to me?)

But Renor was done talking to me. As the days went by, I pieced it together, as Controllers do. Gradually, I retreated farther and farther into my own head. I suppose I was a bit of a wimp. I felt so sorry for myself I didn't bother thinking about what could happen to the rest of the planet. But that all changed the day they infested Hanna.

She wanted to tag along with Renor to the Yeerk Pool, which turned out to be a big mistake. The Yeerks dragged her, kicking and screaming, toward the Pool, while her beloved sister stood and watched. Well, not quite. As a matter of fact, the minute they put their hands on her, Renor was out of there. As a matter of fact, I had control in an instant. I don't know how I did it, but maybe it was my complete lack of rebellion until then. At any rate, I shook Renor off like a dog shakes a flea, screamed at the Yeerks not to touch Hanna and ran and tackled a _Hork-Bajir_ who had dared to lay his hands on my little sister.

Then I grabbed Hanna and started running for the exit when my brain caught up. I remembered that Renor would be coming back any minute, and I tried to yell at Hanna to run. Except she wouldn't. Not without me. She kept saying something about me coming too, and I kept trying to explain why I couldn't, but by that time, it was too late. Renor finally managed to wrest control of my body from me, and it was back to the Yeerk Pool for Hanna.

I suppose it's a testament to my newly-awakened spirit of rebellion that tears ran out of my eyes for a solid hour after that, and Renor couldn't stop them.

That was when I became a 'difficult host'. I resisted every hour of the day, and often the night. Renor got fed up. I sensed that she wasn't the most brutal Yeerk, and I went for her even harder. She had to spend an hour a day meditating, just to keep me from gaining control. Eventually, it began to look like I was going crazy. Renor had what I think was the Yeerk equivalent of a nervous break-down. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to grapple control from her before the Yeerks found out and rushed me off to the Yeerk Pool for a new host.

I gained quite a reputation in the next several years. Hardened Yeerks, the best in the business, begged not to have me as a host. I believe I was scheduled for termination because Visser Three was so desperate, when along came Drinid-328, my worst nightmare.

Drinid somehow had an uncanny knack of knowing whenever I was going to try something--and forestalling it. At the very worst, if she knew she wouldn't be able to control me, she would make a quick break for the bathroom. Eventually though, she became so used to me that no matter how hard I tried, she was always one step ahead. It was really that that got her the promotion, I think.

When she got her promotion, that was that. I could disappear. I was "killed" in a car wreck when I was trying to get my license. I kept trying to resist, but it was all to no avail. Although Visser Three still had me kept in a solitary cage to lessen the likelihood of my escape, it was more a courtesy to Drinid than anything else. Finally, after years of unending rebellion, I was beaten.

I was on the Blade Ship for about three weeks before the Andalite came. I had been left in my cage once again. By this time, I was so despairing that I went straight to sleep. I didn't think I could deal with being awake and thinking, really thinking, about where I was. So I went to sleep. I was awakened by a boy's voice--at least I thought it was a boy's voice at the time.

(Uh…would you like me to rescue you?) he said.


	9. Threats and A Cupboard

**Disclaimer:** Just Julie, she's all I own, I swear, please don't sue me!

**A/N:** Sorry it's taken me so long to upload this chapter. I've, er, heh heh, been busy. Lots of stupid projects and things. Anyways, here is the next installment, so please R&R!

**Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill**

I felt extremely uncomfortable. I did not know what to do. Melissa was crying on my shoulder.

(Melissa?) I whispered. (Melissa?)

She continued to wail. The door to our cell whooshed open and Visser Three entered.

(So,) he sneered. (Do you care for this Human _izhnor_, Andalite?)

Had I not seen the Hork-Bajir standing directly behind him, Dracon beams pointed at me, my tail would have been at his throat. The word "izhnor" means, well…it is not a very polite word. Melissa seemed to understand his meaning, at least in part, for she went red. (I am sorry, Melissa,) I murmured in private thought-speak. (He is an Abomination. You are not an…an_ izhnor_.) If she had _not_ realized how rude the word was, she would have guessed from the way I stumbled over it.

(Leave the girl out of this, Visser, ) I said angrily. (It does not concern her.)

(Oh, but I think it does,) Visser Three said smoothly. (I think it does. You will not tell me anything, little Andalite, as I know from your dealings with my _Veleek_. And unfortunately, I have no Yeerks on the Blade Ship available for your infestation immediately, which is rather a pity. Especially if it should result in harm to this charming Human girl.)

I felt a terrified, cold lump form in the pit of my stomach. He would harm Melissa if I did not tell him what he wished to know. No. No. Not even Visser Three could do such a thing. He _would _not. He _could_ not. But gazing at him, staring at the supercilious smirk on his abominable face, I knew he would.

(Please,) I said, keeping my voice calm with an effort. (Do not harm her.)

(Then I suggest you tell me what I wish to know, Andalite.)

**Marco**

I took Julie's hand in my big, gorilla fist and picked up the dynamite with the other. The door swooshed open in front of it and I stuck my nose out and looked left to right, just like they do in movies. Why am I comparing my life to movies, you ask? My life _is_ a movie. An action/adventure movie. But I guess, when your life is so dangerous you could get killed any second, it helps to distance yourself from it, though I usually do that with jokes. But, hey, movies are cool, too.

(Uh…Julie…why were you in a cage all by yourself?) I asked. I had sort of forgotten I was supposed to be talking like Ax.

She looked up at me (YES! She was looking _up_ at me! I _loved_ this morph!) wryly. "I've become something of a--celebrity--among the Yeerks," she replied, slowly, as though she were still getting used to her voice.

(A celebrity?)

"It's a long story."

In my experience, when people say, 'It's a long story', they don't want to talk about whatever it is, so I restrained myself from shrugging, which would have been about the least Andalite thing I could have done, and replied, carefully, (I see.)

She smiled at me, a little shyly. "Thank you," she whispered. Then, even more quietly, "Maybe another time."

I wondered how long she had been a Controller, and then remembered she had said that she'd been one for four years. Four years! Jake had been a Controller for less than a week, and he still had nightmares about it. I looked at her. She'd been a Controller for four years, but there she was, trotting along next to me as if nothing were wrong. Wow. What a girl. I was so busy thinking about how great Julie was that I didn't see the laser across the hallway until it was too late. BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP! BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

_Uh-oh_, I thought. _I've done it now._

"You sure have!" Julie exclaimed. Confused, I turned to her and realized I must have thought-spoken aloud. Cursing thought-speak in all forms and hoping none of my _other_ thoughts had been audible--several embarrassing ones came suddenly to mind--I looked wildly around for a way of escape. We were in a long, blank hallway. Great. Just great. _Now_ what were we supposed to do? Then I saw it. Maybe three feet square. A small door set into the passage. There was no way Julie and I would fit in there. So maybe they wouldn't look for us there. I grabbed Julie's shoulder and the dynamite in one hand and wrenched the closet open with the other.

I bundled Julie in and somehow managed to squeeze myself in as well.

"Now what?" she whispered once we were safely packed in.

(Uh…we wait?)

"Don't you have to demorph soon?"

Whoops. Again, I say, _brain_, Marco.

(Um, yes…but if there's enough room for a gorilla, there should be enough room for an Andalite.)

"All right, but please don't behead me."

(I won't, but I wish I could belittle you. Then there'd be more room.) _Um, Marco, that's got to be the worst joke you've ever made. Actually, scrap that. It doesn't even count as a joke.  
_

"Uh-huh. Andalites don't have a sense of humor, do they?"

She had a very good point. They don't. At least, Ax doesn't. And I was supposed to be an Andalite. Man, what I do for this job.

(I was attempting a--Human--joke, but Andalites do not really understand humor, no.)

Would she buy it? Oh, please let her buy it! No way, one part of my brain said, there's no way she'd think that _Marco_ doesn't have a sense of humor. Dumb ego.

"Right."

She bought it!


	10. Saved by the Alarm from Corridor 801

**Disclaimer:** My, these get repetitive after awhile: I-own-Julie-and-nobody-else-I-swear-please-don't-sue!

**A/N: **Okay, that was kind of a mean cliff-hanger there, but after all, how else am I going to keep my readers' interest up? Many thanks to all my reviewers; you're all being so kind and wonderful and making me so happy!

**Aximili Esgarrouth Isthill**

(You will leave Melissa alone.)

(Or what, Andalite? You will kill me? You will kill yourself? Neither will guarantee her safety. She will die unless you answer my questions.)

Melissa did not know how high the stakes were. I did not know what to do. My shoulders sagged. Melissa looked from me to Visser Three. I could see the fear in her eyes.

"Look, would somebody please tell me what is going on?" she said, her voice tight.

(Do you not understand, my dear?) Visser Three asked coldly before I could answer. My hands clenched involuntarily at his tone. _You will not use that tone to my…my…_shormlin! That was my thought. 'Shormlin' is not the same as 'shorm'. The difference between them is the difference between the Human "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" and simple "friend". In a small part of my mind, I could not believe I was admitting it, even to myself.

"No," Melissa blurted, though her voice was shaking. "I don't. So explain."

In an exaggeratedly long-suffering voice, Visser Three answered, (Your…boyfriend…is an Andalite. He is an enemy of my people, the Yeerks.)

(Who are a group of bloodthirsty parasites!) I spat.

Visser Three merely looked at me. (Quiet, child, ) he said.

My muscles tensed with anger, but I restrained myself.

(There is a small group of resistance on your planet,) Visser Three continued to Melissa. (And we wish to wipe them out, so we planted a homing device at our feeding ground. The Andalite bandits eventually took the bait, and we managed to tag one of them. Unfortunately, the beacon was faulty, and we only picked up one transmission from it. It was in your house, my dear. I went to investigate, instilled doubt in your heart about the Andalite, and followed you when you went to talk to him. It was quite simple. Now, girl, follow me.)

I stepped in front of Melissa. (What are you going to do to her?)

(Have you had a change of heart, Andalite?) His four eyes bored into my skull. I did not know what to do.

BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP! BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP!

(What is that?) Visser Three snapped.

One of the Hork-Bajir guards at the door cleared his throat nervously.

(Yes? You have something to say, Daren 425?)

The Hork-Bajir said something in Galen that I didn't understand.

(Oh? It's the alarm from Corridor 801?) Visser Three asked, his voice soft. I stiffened. I could feel the angry menace underlying the Visser's voice.

The Hork-Bajir said something else. In an instant, the Visser's tail was at his throat. (THEN WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE GO AND FIND OUT WHO THE INTRUDER IS!) he shouted. He stormed out of the room, followed by a troop of quivering Hork-Bajir. Melissa turned to me.

"That was really lucky," she gasped.

For answer, I put my arms around her and hugged her.

**Marco**

I demorphed quickly and was going to remorph as quickly, but Julie stretched her arms.

"Wow," she commented. "There's more room than I thought, if you're demorphed and I'm not touching you."

I opened my mouth to reply and clapped my hand over it. What was I thinking! An Andalite would only be able to use thought-speak. I'd be in real trouble if I said anything out loud.

"Um…are you there?" Julie sounded nervous, and I didn't blame her. I was morphing to gorilla as fast as I could, but I had no thought-speak capabilities yet. I opened my mouth and gave a strangled gurgle, which probably just frightened her more, because she gasped and I felt her moving away.

(It's okay, it's okay,) I blurted as soon as I could.

Her breathing calmed slightly. "What happened?" she hissed tersely.

(I was halfway into morph. Andalites can only thought-speak when a morph is complete, ) I lied.

"Oh." Was that the slightest hint of suspicion in her voice? I hoped not.

(I'm sorry; I should have warned you. Now, since I think we're going to be in here awhile, why don't we get some sleep, or at least a little rest.)

"You rest first; I'll make sure you don't stay in morph for over two hours."

(All right. And thanks-er, thank you.)

I closed my eyes. Now, about this point you're thinking, 'What the heck? Is this guy nuts? He's trapped aboard an alien spacecraft with hordes of angry bad guys searching for him, and he's _sleeping_!'

Well, yes, I guess it does sound nuts. But morphing takes a lot of energy. And I knew I was going to need to have some energy to a) blow up the blade ship, and b) escape with Ax, Melissa, and Julie. So I slept. I'm not saying it was easy. But I did kind of manage to doze lightly while keeping one eye open and nervously shifting from side to side every so often.

The whole time I was dozing, I heard feet pounding in the corridor, but fortunately for us, Visser Three didn't tell anyone to look in the cupboard, and I guess Controllers aren't exactly big on doing stuff Visser Three doesn't tell them to do.

Finally, Julie shook me and told me that now would be a good time to demorph. I told her that it was her turn to get some sleep. She didn't resist much. I guess she was pretty tired.

I demorphed fairly sluggishly, being still half-asleep. I was going to morph again immediately, but for some reason, I decided not to. I kind of liked the way Julie was leaning against me in her sleep, her head pillowed against my shoulder. Somebody outside the closet--or whatever it was--was sweeping a huge spotlight from one end of the corridor to the other. The light illuminated the closet we were in periodically. I guess it was the brightness or maybe she was just done sleeping, but Julie stirred, blinked, and opened her eyes. She was looking right at me. Human me. I gulped and hoped she'd think it was dream. She smiled at me, and against my better judgment, I smiled back. Then she yawned, turned a little and snuggled into my shoulder.


	11. A Bolt from the Blue

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Animorphs, nor do I have the energy to make up a creative disclaimer.

**A/N: **This update was really fast! Warning: Major Marco angst coming up. Oh, and next chapter includes just a little Jake and Tom stuff, which I know has taken awhile to show up, but it's here at last. Anyways, enjoy!

_"Life is actually a series of encounters in which one event can change those that follow in a wholly unpredictable, even devastating way."--Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park_

**Julie**

I was dreaming. It was a dark night outside, and the snow was falling fast. I was sitting next to Hanna, in our living room, in front of a great roaring, blazing fire. We were laughing about something inconsequential. Hanna's freckled little face gazed up at me, full of hero worship, and I flushed, a little embarrassed.

"Julie?" she asked timidly.

"Yes, Hanna?" I replied.

"I got a question."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Oh. Okay. There's this kid at school--"

"Yeah?" Oh, great. I didn't know if I could help. I wasn't great at helping with school problems. Sometimes Hanna had _too_ much faith in me. I always tried hard to make sure it was not misplaced, however, so now I was all ears. At that point, though, the dream began to fade, and I felt as if I were being swept away from Hanna again. "HANNA!" I screamed, as the dark mists swirled in front of my eyes. But she was gone.

I blinked my eyes. I had thought I was awake, but that didn't seem right. I was in a dim, half-lit place, leaning on a boy's shoulder. I looked up at him. He had untidy dark hair, falling to his chin, and a slightly pointed Hispanic face. His black eyes seemed nervous and hesitant. He was cute. I smiled at him dreamily. He started and then slowly smiled back. My eyes shut again involuntarily. The mists swirled me away into deep, deep, dreamless sleep.

When I woke up again, it was because the Andalite was shaking me gently. It was a little bit weird, being gently shaken by a huge male silverback gorilla, but probably the Andalite wasn't really thinking about that. I blinked my eyes and became suddenly aware of numerous aches and pains in muscles from sleeping in an odd position.

"What's the plan?" I whispered to him.

His voice in my head sounded tense and excited as he replied, (Most of the explosives, we'll leave here, and set them to detonate in an hour. I'm thinking we could take a few into their control room and detonate them immediately, so-)

"Visser Three will be distracted, and we can rescue your friends before this entire place is blown sky-high!" I finished, joyfully. "That's a great idea!"

(Thanks--uh, thank you.) The huge gorilla head turned away in--what was it--embarrassment? That seemed strange in an Andalite, but we didn't really have the time for me to indulge in long speculations. Still, it was invigorating to be able to think what I liked without someone in my head able to overhear every word.

"Let's go!" I cried, intoxicated with a sudden, fierce joy as I realized that I was _free_, truly _free_ for the first time in four years.

(Okay, um, can you help me with these explosives? The ones we want to detonate in an hour? I'm no expert--that is, I do not know as much about Yeerk technology in this respect.)

"We could set the timer," I suggested. "Most of them are in English, because of the Human Controllers--you know English, don't you?"

(Um, yes, I--it was necessary for me to--uh--know it in order to, um, survive on your world. The timer…that's a good…a good idea.)

"Thanks," I replied, wondering though why this Andalite couldn't have thought of it himself. He fumbled with the explosives for a minute. (There, ) he said presently. (The timer is-uh-set. For an hour. We should hurry.)

"Yeah, definitely," I agreed. No way did I want still to be here when the bulk of the explosives went off. I shoved my head out of the cupboard. No one around. Good. "The control room's this way," I said, beckoning to the Andalite. When you've lived aboard a ship for almost a month, you start getting the hang of where things are. It was very close, actually. We walked for maybe five minutes, and then there we were. "So what now?" I asked.

(We open the door, chuck the stuff in and run?) the Andalite suggested. I wondered for a moment suspiciously about the Andalite's mode of speech--it seemed awfully slangy for a race I'd heard walked the edge between pride and arrogance. But there was no time to worry about that now. "Sounds good," I said, flashing him a grin. I took a deep, deep breath, and pressed down the detonator. Numbers in English and what I thought was Galen. 10...9...8...

The doors slid open. I chucked the stuff. (RUN!) shouted the Andalite in my head, grabbing my hand in his and jerking me backward. I heard the Hork-Bajir yelling in Galen, and then we were running down the hallway, as fast as we could, which, since the Andalite was a gorilla, was really, really fast. (Uh, not that I'm trying to be rude or anything,) he said suddenly. (But could I carry you?)

"What--you mean--to be--faster?" I gasped, out of breath.

(Yeah--Yes.)

In an instant, he had scooped me up, and we were running faster than ever, the Hork-Bajir's shouts fading into the distance behind us. "Where are we going?" I asked, then answered my own question. "Your friends. Of course."

We're almost there! his thought-speak voice was laden with excitement. We rounded a corner and found ourselves standing in front of a large gray door. Locked.

(Stand back,) the Andalite said. (No time to be subtle.)

He set me down, and I backed up a few paces. Not too far, though; I didn't want to miss the action. The Andalite drew back one huge gorilla fist and punched forward, smashing into the door. That door didn't have a chance. It crumpled in an instant, and we were staring into a small, windowless room, where a girl and a boy were sitting against the back wall, the girl asleep, her head pillowed on the boy's shoulder. The boy had been recently asleep, but probably the shock of the door being punched in had woken him. He blinked a little confusedly and then shook the girl.

The Andalite barreled through the door. (Are you guys okay?) I followed at a respectful distance.

"We are not harmed. We were very lucky. Especially Melissa."

The girl was waking up now. She shook her head sleepily and looked around.

The Andalite looked ever-so-slightly embarrassed. (Sorry, no time for pleasantries, ) he said gruffly. (We've got to get moving. The ship's going to blow in about forty-five minutes.)

"What have you done?" the boy asked.

(There were some explosives. This is Julie, by the way. Let's go.)

The boy got uncomfortably to his feet and helped the girl up, since she was sleepier than he was. Then we all ran out the door together.

Unfortunately, it took us a long time to find the Bug Fighters, about half an hour. Drinid hadn't had a lot of truck with them, so I only had a vague notion of where we should go. We were getting really nervous by this time, of course. And then we still had to get rid of those stupid Hork-Bajir guards. The Andalite came up with a very novel plan. Basically, it involved a tap-dancing gorilla, a tap-dancing former Controller, and two other people armed with makeshift coshes.

We were in. And not a moment too soon. The Andalite's friends hurriedly moved to the control room, and the Andalite himself smiled at me, as well as he could, considering his face. I was about to smile back when I glanced out the door of the Bug Fighter, which was beginning to slide shut. I froze. There was a child down at the far end of the hallway, flanked by two Hork-Bajir. A child with blond hair and freckles, her arms pinned behind her. A child I knew very well. _Oh, God_, I thought. _Hanna_. On the Blade Ship. The Blade Ship which was going to explode in ten seconds. The doors were sliding shut, I was running forward, screaming something, I don't know what, and all the time, there was this little voice in my head that was going, _10...9...8..._


	12. Jake and Tom

**Disclaimer:** Oh, great K.A. Applegate, I bow to your superiority in copyright laws. (Except that you shouldn't be allowed to have characters if you kill them all off. However...)

**A/N:** I blush. I am afraid I made an egregious error in my last chapter; it is _Galard_, not_ Galen_ that is the intergalactic language. Many thanks to Jayla for pointing this out (also, thanks for reviewing!) Now, I realize this is a very short chapter, but I think it's necessary in order to clarify what happened in the last chapter. So, read, and enjoy, and be happy!

**Melissa**

Ax and I were in the Control Room, when we heard Julie screaming something about a little sister and then Marco's thought-speak voice was yelling, (Julie!) Ax had just then put the Bug Fighter into flight, and I ran out to see the gorilla collapsed against the door with a look of horror on its almost-human face. Julie was nowhere to be seen.

"M-marco?" I asked. He was changing back into Marco, I don't think even consciously. "Where's Julie?" I asked stupidly, though I was positive I knew the answer. I had heard, seconds before, the muffled boom as the Blade Ship exploded. Marco was fully human now, and his face was buried in his hands. He was making a dull, dry, choking sound, like a sob, only there weren't any tears. I helped him to his feet and over to this cot which was at the side of the room. I guess sometimes they need to let their pilots have a break, and it was certainly an army-type cot, with the dark, scratchy blankets and the extremely thin mattress.

I got Marco onto it, and he lay with his head pillowed on his arms, not making any sound anymore, his dark, chin-length hair spreading around his face. I didn't know what to do. I had a feeling that anything I could say would be utterly, utterly worthless.

**Jake**

We basically had no idea what to do. I left the others to go keep watch on Tom for awhile. It was a kind of long trek; by the time I got to the hut in the woods I was breathing hard. We'd left one of the Chee guarding him, and Don was still there, but when he saw me he smiled and waved. "Hi," he said quietly. "Don't worry; Tom's fine. Well, as fine as he can be, right now. He's sleeping. We have approximately 1.73 days left to wait yet."

I tiptoed inside, perversely not wanting to wake Tom, though I knew that it was the Yeerk in his head who'd made the decision to sleep, probably to conserve energy so he could make another desperate break for it. All the same, Tom was sleeping too, probably, and if I woke the Yeerk I woke Tom. I didn't want Tom to be awake anymore than he had to be for the next 1.73 days.

He was slumped against the pole where he was tied, his dirty-blond hair matted to his sweaty forehead. He looked really, really tired, and there were lines of pain drawn into his face and forehead I didn't remember having seen before. But then, I didn't look at the Yeerk if I could help it. It was all I could do not to spit in his direction at breakfast.

I stood there, looking at him, wishing we'd freed him sooner. It would have been dangerous, but, hell, it was dangerous now. "Don't worry, Bro," I said softly. "You're gonna be okay."

Then I turned away, half-hoping the real Tom was awake and had heard me. "Damn it!" I whispered fiercely, shaking my fist at all the Yeerks who had done this to so many innocent people. "_Damn_ it!"

I went out, said goodbye to Don and went back to where the remaining Animorphs were doing pretty much nothing in the meadow.


End file.
